Alan Duncan's imprudent remarks show he has no grasp of the public's anger

Letters, August 14: Alan Duncan's imprudent remarks - The politics of
recession - Women in the professions - How to help a weary bee -
Pooper-scooper snooping - Pooper-scooper snooping - The first flyover - How
to answer the big questions from small children

12:02AM BST 14 Aug 2009

SIR – The imprudent and stupid remarks of Alan Duncan (report, August 13) show a total lack of understanding of the public's anger at MPs' arrogance, greed and excess, which has been exacerbated by the recent behind-the-scenes deal regarding future expenses.

The people who are genuinely living on "rations" are the 2.4 million currently unemployed, reportedly soon to rise to three million, while MPs are seemingly making ineffective, or little, effort to tackle the country's problems.

The sooner we have an election the better, so that the public can demonstrate their depth of feelings about the current group of MPs. Yet this is probably a forlorn hope with a weak and discredited Prime Minister, clinging to power while the country sinks further into the mire.

Peter Baker Bracknell, Berkshire

SIR – Perhaps Alan Duncan, our lamentable Member of Parliament, would like to explain, face to face, his definition of rations to the troops in Afghanistan and Iraq.

SIR – As Alan Duncan is obviously so unhappy with his lot as an MP, I am sure that no one would mind if he wished to stand down at the next general election, if not sooner.

After all, how can an MP who holds his constituents in such disdain properly represent them?

Bob MacDougall Kippen, Stirlingshire

SIR – Alan Duncan apologising for what he said misses the point: the fact that he thought it renders him unfit for office.

Dr Amanda Hopkins Rugby, Warwickshire

SIR – Alan Duncan projects exactly the wrong image to the general public, and this at a time when the Conservative Party is making good progress in proving that it has changed.

If David Cameron wants to show that he is in tune with the voters, he should drop Mr Duncan immediately.

Andrew Barker Sibbertoft, Leicestershire

SIR – Alan Duncan considers that MPs have been treated like s---. Perhaps he now understands how the rest of us feel we have been treated by MPs.

Roger Hoare Middle Winterslow, Salisbury

SIR – Some rations! Some s---!

Derek Duly Bexhill-on-Sea, East Sussex

SIR – It is dangerous to joke with activists. By their very nature, they have no sense of humour.

Harry Smith Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire

The politics of recession

SIR – The Conservatives certainly need a lot of help from others in defending their lack of policy to counter the recession, but The Daily Telegraph does not need to be so obliging (Leading article, August 13).

My criticism of them on the Today programme on Wednesday stems from their opposition to the Government’s fiscal stimulus, which is now widely recognised to have been successful in blunting the impact of the recession. Tax cuts, help with business’s short-term financial needs, mortgage support for home owners and measures to help the unemployed, especially young people – all are part of this expenditure opposed by the Tories.

They argue that we cannot afford the debt to meet the costs of this set of interventions. But the costs to the economy, to the public purse and to the individuals affected would be far higher and more damaging without the Government’s actions.

I was not evasive in the interview. I was frank about the need to pay down the costs of our national debt in the medium term when economic times are better.

Lord Mandelson London SW1

Women in the professions

SIR – David Nunn (Letters, August 12) highlights a problem not restricted to surgery. I understand that many young female veterinary surgeons prefer to treat small animals in the comfort of the surgery than to go out into the fields.

The increasing entry of women into the professions will produce many such problems as senior male colleagues retire.

It is not surprising that an unduly high proportion of young women study medicine and other professions. They are always more attractive to interview than men of the same age. Something must be done to avoid this unfair discrimination – perhaps by Harriet Harman herself.

T. W. D. Smith FRCS Sheffield

SIR – It is their undergraduate experience of surgeons, not surgery, that deters women from joining the profession. The culture is changing as more of them become surgeons; it is all the better for it.

Luke Cascarini FRCS Beckenham, Kent

How to help a weary bee

SIR – I read the RSPB’s advice to put sugared water in an egg cup to help exhausted bees (report, August 12). Amazingly, a prospective candidate bumbled past my window a few hours later and lay feebly on the patio, legs waving. I rushed out to help it, egg cup in hand. It slowly scaled the cup before, as I had feared, toppling in headfirst.

The poor soul spent two hours recuperating next to my computer before being placed on some buddleia from which a successful take-off was effected. The egg cup, meanwhile, had disappeared under a seething mass of ants.

Is there a potentially less fatal way to help a weary bee?

Sally Lloyd Sandhurst, Berkshire

Military perks

SIR – Many years ago, when I was on a staff course in Shropshire, we used to break away from the nightly swotting grind and head for Mr Smith’s, a strip club in Hanley, for some light relief. You could get in for half price if you showed your RAF identity card (Letters, August 13).

Of course, I only went to hear the comedians.

Gp Capt David Greenway (retd) Anna Valley, Hampshire

Pooper-scooper snooping

SIR – It is unfortunate that you repeated (Leading article, August 10) the criticism of local authorities for using their Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act covert surveillance powers against dog fouling. This is, at best, a half truth.

It is unlikely that the use of those powers would be necessary or proportionate in relation to fouling a pavement. But fouling a children’s playground is much more serious, as dog excrement contains a parasite which can cause blindness in children.

I suspect that many people would welcome the use of these powers to reduce that risk.

Sir Christopher Rose Chief Surveillance Commissioner London SW1

SIR – The emerging surveillance state might be acceptable if we could trust those who snooped.

Hugh Wilson (Letters, August 12) is no doubt an honourable man with the interest of his community at heart, but can the same be said of our political masters in Westminster and Brussels? Control of the minutiae of our everyday lives seems to be their aim, and those of us who value our liberties are scared of the trend toward a Soviet-style society.

There are dangerous criminals at large, but we are not all criminals, and should not all be treated as such, or as suspects. Controlled societies have been tried in the past; none has lasted long.

Simon Butcher Colchester, Essex

The first flyover

SIR – I was the first member of the public to drive a private car over the Chiswick flyover (Letters, August 5).

I drove up in my 1931 Lagonda 2-litre tourer just before the official opening, and, accompanied by enthusiastic cheers, mingled with blank indifference, drove past the large workforce, across the new structure and away.

The car still survives in excellent health – in Ireland, I believe.

Neale Edwards Chard, Somerset

Light from the tunnel

SIR – The European economy must be improving. I have just received my first dividend cheque from Eurotunnel.

It reads: “Only thirty pence.”

Jean Kain Atworth, Wiltshire

How to answer the big questions from small children

SIR – The questions asked by Sue Doughty’s children (Letters, August 13) are nothing compared to what I was stumped with by my young daughter after she had attended a few Sunday school lessons: “Daddy, when God made the world, where did he stand?”

My prompt response was that she should go and ask her mother.

Tony Walden Brassington, Derbyshire

SIR – We had just driven off the ferry into France, when a three-year-old voice from the back of the car asked: “Now, how shall we speak?”

Lulu Colliver Weybridge, Surrey

SIR – I was washing my car when my then small daughter came skipping out and asked: “Daddy, what is sex?”

Once I had recovered my composure, I decided that this was the time to explain. When I had finished, she gave me a strange, quizzical look, so I asked what had prompted her question.

She replied: “Mummy said, 'Go and tell Daddy that dinner will be ready in a couple of secs’.”

Robert Mendoza Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex

SIR – My great-grandson, then four, asked: “Since there were no cherry stones around, where did the first cherry tree come from?”

Martin Sterne Reigate, Surrey

SIR – When our son and daughter-in-law can’t answer a question from their six-year old, they say: “Ask grandma; she knows everything.”